Rodent Run Amuck
by kathey'ssis
Summary: When a patient's pet hamster gets loose in the halls of Rampart's Emergency Department, the nurses are up in arms, on chairs, desk tops and doing some interesting stepping moves.
1. Chapter 1

This story was written in response to the request of a reader who wanted a story about hamsters.

Merry Christmas Ava, I hope you like it and don't mind sharing with others.

When a patient's pet hamster gets loose in the halls of Rampart's Emergency Department, the nurses are up in arms, on chairs, desk tops and doing some interesting stepping moves. With Dixie keeping her feet farther from the floor than any of her nurses it's up to Brackett to orchestrate a rodent round up and get things around the ER back in working order.

**Rodent Run Amuck**

Johnny and Roy were racing to their third run since beginning their shift. The first call came in even before roll call for a heart patient, they were able to routinely stabilize the man and get him to the hospital where he was admitted directly to the Coronary Intensive Care Unit. Before John and Roy were able to get back to the Emergency Department to restock their drug box the next call came in. An explosion in a toy factory pulled four battalions out and six paramedic teams along with them. Fortunately the fire was quick to respond to the firefighters efforts to get it under control but unfortunately there were 22 factory workers who were seriously burned when the machine that poured molten plastic into molds malfunctioned and exploded.

John and Roy made three trips to the emergency room with patients and restocked each time but still used all but one of the preloaded syringes of pain medications in their drug box. There was also only one bag of D5W left in all of the squad's supplies. They were in a serious shortage.

"Cap, we've got to spend some serious time at Rampart restocking after this run," Roy informed his superior.

"I don't doubt it," Hank acknowledged. This had been a long haul and a lot of patients. Hank had to question the Deputy Chief's decision not to call out a triage team from the hospital to help with all of the patients. "We've got everything under control here. Go ahead and take care of getting the squad restocked. We'll meet you back at the station. Maybe you can have lunch ready for us when we get there," Hank hinted.

"We might can work something out." Roy smiled back in understanding.

Just then the remaining paramedic out of 36's was guided to the last ambulance holding his hand. Debris had shifted in an effort to get into the last unsearched room in the factory and he had received cuts to both his arm and the palm of his hand. It was clear he would need to go to the hospital for a few stitches and his captain didn't want him driving the squad so he was placed in charge of the stable patients in the ambulance since there was no further room for another paramedic and his captain assigned one of his other men to take their squad in to pick them both up.

Roy and John had no sooner placed their nearly empty drug boxes in the squad compartments when Dispatch came over the radio asking if there were paramedics available that could respond to a woman down call three miles from their location. The deputy chief answered that Squad 51 was free to respond and the two men were off.

"Roy, I don't know what we're going to do if this is a heart attack. We literally only have one dose of MS on board and the only IV we have is one bag of D5W," Johnny said to Roy as he drove to the address that had been given.

"I know," Roy responded. "We'll just have to do the best we can and let the Doc's know what we've got to work with. Regardless we've got to get more supplies before we can go on another run."

Johnny let out a smirking scoff, "Right, we shouldn't be rolling on this one with what we've got on board."

"We're still better than nothing," Roy countered as he pulled into a circle driveway were a teenage girl was waving to them and waiting for them to get out of the truck.

"It's my grandma." The girl started talking as they pulled the supplies they had from the squad's compartment. "She's staying with us while she's recovering from a slight stroke and her cat started chasing my brother's hamster and anyhow the cat managed to trip her and she hurt her ankle," the girl explained as she led the way to her fallen grandmother. "We've managed to get the cat in his cage but we can't find the hamster yet. My brother's afraid the cat ate it but my mom says that they don't eat them they just kill them and play with the bodies." The girl continued to talk nervously as they moved through the hall to where an elderly woman lay on the floor moaning in pain and complaining of cruel treatment of her innocent kitty cat. The woman's middle aged daughter sat on the floor cradling her mother's head in her lap as she tried to calm the older woman promising the cat would be let out of the cage just as soon as the hamster was found and put back in his cage.

The two paramedics set their nearly empty boxes down and opened them up pulling the supplies needed to get a set of vitals out before going to work on their patient.

The boy was upset looking behind and under every piece of furniture calling for Teddy Mouse but growing more and more agitated when he found nothing.

"Matt, will you please take grandma's kitty upstairs to her apartment and let it out of the cage. You can lock the door to keep it there until you find Teddy.

Both Roy and Johnny were certain the ankle in question was fractured and while John was making short work of splinting it Roy was on the Biophone getting orders from Dr. Brackett to start an IV with D5W and administer their last dose of MS.

When the ambulance arrived Johnny was quick to shut the drug box and latch it before aiding in lifting their patient to the gurney. Then as the patient's daughter started barking out instructions to her children, Johnny grabbed up the mostly empty box and followed the patient into the back of the ambulance while Roy helped the woman's daughter into the cab for a ride to the hospital.

Once at the hospital their patient was quickly directed to a treatment room as Johnny sat the drug box and bio-phone in a safe place in the hallway just outside the door. Once inside the treatment room John helped to move the patient from the gurney to the treatment table and gave Dr. Early a report on all that had happened during transport before leaving them to get the patient undressed and into a hospital gown.

When John picked up his equipment he felt the weight shift in his drug box. That, along with the unusually light weight, reminded John just how low they were on supplies. Fearing another call would come in any second, John hurried to the nurse's desk.

"Dix," John called out just as Roy joined him. "We need a lot of supplies. We are completely out of almost everything."

Just to make his point John hurried past the head nurse who was talking with Dr. Brackett and sat the drug box on the stainless steel cabinet that housed most of the supplies they were in need of. With great haste Johnny undid the latches and threw the box open. The second the box lay open on the counter top a small light brown creature emerged from the bottom tray.

Dixie let out a scream that further shocked the two paramedics as they turned to see that Dixie had jumped into Dr. Brackett's arms with her arms tight around his neck. This further frightened the small critter who quickly escaped his recent confinement and ran across the stainless steel counter top only to turn around once he came to the end and run back again.

Johnny and Roy shared totally stunned looks. "Teddy Mouse!" they spoke in unison before they were able to respond and try to capture the small rodent/pet.

The two paramedics actually collided as they moved toward the little furry creature. Roy managed to get his hands out in front of it only to have it climb over his hands before it jumped the small opening to the counter top and scurried under the radio base station where it was safely out of reach from any fireman's fat hand, and no small handed nurse was even remotely interested in trying to reach for it.

Dixie was finally willing to put her feet on the floor now that the rodent was out of sight, either that or she could tell that Dr. Brackett was about ready to drop her. (A strong muscular firefighter he was not.)

Dr. Brackett took just a moment to catch his breath as Dixie took up a safe position behind him as the flustered Paramedics were trying to figure out how to rescue the smallest victim they've ever dealt with.

"When did you guys start carrying a mascot in with your supplies?" Brackett questioned already knowing this was going to be a good story.

"It must have climbed in there while we were working with the grandmother." Johnny turned to Roy while he tried to make sense of what had just happened. He squatted down so that he could see the frightened creature hiding under the base station. See, but there was no way he could reach it.

"Yeah," Roy agreed. "The drug box was nearly empty; it must have figured that was the safest place to get away from Grandma's cat."

Brackett's face twitched with thoughts of laughter mingled with the seriousness of the ramifications of having a rodent running loose through the hospital.

"Do you men think you can capture that thing or do I need to call an exterminator?"

"NO!" Both men spoke at the same time.

"You can't call an exterminator, its a little kid's pet," Roy explained. "See, the grandmother is staying with them for a while, while she's recovering - " Roy began to explain what little they had been told and overheard. The only thing they knew for sure was that the boy truly cared about the at large rodent and wanted it back in his safe keeping.

"Alright," Brackett responded once the story was told, "but you better hurry up and catch that thing and get it out of here." He then turned to Dixie who was still doing her best to keep him between her and the place the small creature was hiding. "Dix, do you think you can manage to get these boys' drug box reloaded while they're playing mouse catchers, so they can take that thing back where it came from just as soon as they capture it."

Dr. Brackett's statement indicated the faith that he had in his paramedics' abilities.

Following Dr. Brackett's orders, John and Roy worked together to move the base station that was so heavy they both worried about getting hernias. As it was lifted and moved the plug that powered it came loose and John saw the small creature dash toward the opening in the counter top where the wires went through. Unfortunately his hands were full with a very heavy base station and there was nothing he could do to try and catch the little guy before it disappeared down the little hole.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Best Laid Rescues of Mice and Men**

Once the base station was once again set down, unfortunately in a very impractical spot and not totally on the counter, John hurriedly opened the cabinet below where the pet hamster, named Teddy Mouse, had disappeared.

Listening quietly John could tell that little Teddy was trapped inside a tube that had been installed in the cabinet to house and protect the wires for the base station, the opening at the bottom for the wires was much smaller and tight around the cords so Teddy couldn't get out that way.

"Roy," Johnny called to his partner from his position half inside the cabinet. "it's stuck inside this tube here but the tube is loose; I think if we can pull it up then I can get it."

"That sounds good to me. If we work that tube up carefully we as much as have the little guy surrounded." Roy agreed not able to come up with a better plan.

Since Johnny was down close to the floor he started pulling the boxes and supplies out of the cabinet and placing them around him on the floor as he cleared the cupboard for his attempted rescue.

While Johnny cleared the cabinet, Roy gave Dixie a list of supplies they needed and then moved over to help Johnny while Dixie pulled the needed items from the shelves of the supply closet at the end of the hall. There were a few items that were kept locked up in the stainless steel shelves and she grabbed them quickly while she knew for sure that little rodent wasn't going to be running across her toes.

Once everything was out of the cabinet Johnny started twisting the tube back and forth to loosen it as he carefully pushed it upward leaving a small gap underneath. As soon as the tube was above the counter top enough for Roy to get a hold of it he aided in pulling it up ward. Both paramedics were being ever so careful not to pull it up too fast and were taking their time. All the time Johnny talked calmingly to their victim.

"Take it easy there, Teddy; we're not going to hurt you. Nice Teddy, we're going to get you out of there and then take you home to your boy where it's nice and safe and you can get your dinner." There were a few nurses that were starting to gather around in curiosity, one or two wondering if they needed to call someone from the psych ward down to check on these two paramedics. Most were wondering what was taking the normally proficient paramedics so long to get the kid named Teddy out of the cabinet and how he had gotten in there in the first place.

Alas, the tube was an inch off the floor of the cabinet and Johnny called out, "Okay, Roy, I'm going to let you take it from here, I need to use both of my hands down here so I can catch this little guy without hurting it." Roy complied and carefully pulled the tube higher just a millimeter at a time. "Okay, okay," Roy heard the muffled voice below him, "Easy there now, we're not going to hurt you, easy, easy. Roy I just pulled a wire loose down here."

"Brackett's not going to be happy with you." Roy responded just as the other base station came to life as squad 98 called in with a suspected heart attack and Dr. Brackett responded to the call. Before he pushed the button to talk to the squad he looked at the scattered supplies at his feet and then at Roy. "Just what is it that I'm not going to be happy with?"

"I've got it, I've got it," Johnny called out from under the cabinet as he was slowly backing out before Roy could explain to Dr. Brackett what he was going to be unhappy about.

Slowly, Johnny backed out of the cabinet on his elbows, both hands carefully cupped around the little victim he had just rescued. "Easy there now, we're not going to hurt you. No one is going to hurt you."

Finally, Johnny was clear of the cabinet but not before he hit the top of his head. Unable to rub the spot he hit Johnny sat on a stack of paper pads that had been pulled out of the cabinet to make room for the rescue efforts.

The gathered nurses were leaning over the counter to get a look and when they saw a small ear and a beady little eye peeking out from between a couple of Johnny's fingers. Two of the nurses let out a screech, one climbed up and sat on the nurse's desk while the one, taking notes for Dr. Brackett as he was looking over an EKG Strip that was being sent in, went to extreme lengths to keep Dr. Brackett between her and the paramedic sitting on the floor.

Shaking his head and smiling at the reaction of the nurses, Johnny carefully cradled the little pet rodent against his stomach as he continued to talk to it and with one slightly freed finger started to rub the top of its head as he talked soothingly.

"We need something to put him in so we can take him home." Johnny looked to Roy to solve that problem while he worked to keep the little creature calm.

"I'll see if I can find a box or something," Roy commented before carefully stepping around the stuff on the floor and his partner, not to mention Dr. Brackett and his nurse.

Roy had just gotten around the desk when Dixie arrived with two boxes full of their needed supplies. Seeing that Johnny had been successful in capturing the escaped rodent, Dixie stayed back as far as she could and simply pushed the boxes in her hands into Roy's arms.

So while Johnny continued to sit on the paper pads on the floor and cuddle the hamster next to his stomach Roy once again worked around Dr. Brackett, his nurse, the supplies scattered on the floor and his partner who was now sitting cross legged on top of a pile of paper pads. Moving as quickly as he could, Roy wiped out their drug box and then reloaded it, effectively emptying one of the boxes Dixie had handed him. He then found a triangular bandage in a torn package and pulled that out thinking to use it to form a lid for the box to keep the critter in until they could get it home to its owner.

Roy was just about to bring the box down to Johnny's level so that he could release the hamster into it when Brackett started talking quickly to the paramedic calling in as the patient he was treating through the base station took a turn for the worse. While Brackett was calling out drugs to administer, little Teddy managed to slip between the buttons of Johns uniform shirt and inside of his shirt.

As Brackett's patient went from bad to worse and he was now talking the paramedics from squad 98 through a full arrest, Teddy responded to the anxious voices around him and worked his way around John's side inside of his shirt. Just as the Dr. Brackett's patient was defibrillated and brought back to sinus rhythm Teddy Mouse found the untucked tail of the back of John's uniform shirt and was once again free. The nurse taking notes for Dr. Brackett screeched and stepped between the doctor and the machine he was using to direct the treatment of the patient.

Dixie managed to keep from screaming this time but was still instantly on top of the desk. Johnny dove for the little creature but not before it ran between Dr. Brackett's feet and around the corner of the base station cabinet just as Dr. Brackett stepped on Johnny's hand.

Teddy Mouse continued on, running with all the speed it could muster, down the hall, bringing high pitched screeches and nurses jumping into arms or doing some very interesting side stepping in its path. Several trays filled with metal supplies were dropped on the floor their ringing echoing in their wake and frightening the poor little critter that much more.

Just then the handy-talkie on the desk sounded off. "Squad 51, what is your status?"

Roy and John locked eyes before John rolled over on his side and looked down the hall after the running rodent. "Roy, what are we going to do?"

"We can't turn down a run to chase after a hamster," Roy responded as he picked up the handy-talkie and pressed the button. "Squad 51 available."

Johnny was helped up off the floor as the tones flowed from the hand held device. "Squad 51, Engine 98, respond to traffic accident at the corner of . . . ." Roy copied down the address as Johnny looked at the mess they had made and listened to the terrified nurses in the hallway. Finally he had nothing more he could do other than give an apologetic look to the doctor who was now resigned that they still had a rodent on the loose and a base station in shambles to deal with on their own.

"Ah, Doc, there's a couple of loose wires that need to be reattached," Johnny said, gesturing to the base station that was still partially off the counter as he backed away from the carnage he had helped to create in pursuit of his partner and the rescue they had been called out on.

When Johnny had made it around the corner, Kell Brackett looked down at the mess at hand, "Dix, get someone up here to get this base station back in working order and then get this place cleaned up," he barked, then turned around and instructed Squad 89 to take their patient straight to CCU. The ER was in too much of a shambles to bring him in there.


	3. Chapter 3

**If At First You Don't Succeed**

With his squeamish nurses being no help what so ever, Dr. Brackett did manage to find an orderly that wasn't afraid of anything small enough he could step on it. Of course Dr. Brackett informed him that this small creature was someone's pet and that they needed to make a reasonable effort to capture it alive and well. The orderly was more than willing to track the small creature and keep an eye on it while Dr. Brackett did what he needed to do to save a life or two.

Two patients later he noticed that blankets had been stuffed under the door of one of the treatment rooms and when he asked why he was told the small rodent was in there. Dr. Brackett carefully opened the door to see the orderly he had assigned to track the rodent down standing watch over a cart in the corner of the room. As soon as he was in the room the orderly, a man named Martin, put his finger to his lips in a shushing motion.

"He's over there," Martin pointed, "I've had blankets placed under both of the doors in and out of here to make sure he can't get out of this room. Now what do you want me to do?"

"I'm not exactly sure to be honest with you. Just keep an eye on it and I'll go find out the best way to recapture the thing."

Dr. Brackett then carefully stepped out into the hall taking a moment to tuck the blanket against the bottom of the door with his feet before moving to his office and the phone there. On his way he stopped at the nurse's desk to talk with Dixie. While there he noticed that the second base station still wasn't back in working order and therefore the stuff from the cabinet was still stacked around on the floor. Kell gave a sigh and a shake of his head before taking in and blowing out a deep breath then addressing Dixie. The nurse he had once thought wasn't afraid of anything least of all a tiny little hamster.

"Treatment Room 2 is closed for business until further notice."

Dixie just sheepishly nodded her head, embarrassed by her fear of something so small and incapable of doing her any real harm. Still she had no problem staying away from the treatment room where the little creature was currently corralled.

Once in his office Dr. Brackett quickly headed for the phone and dialed the hospital operator. Whenever he needed to contact someone that wasn't in his regular phone directory the operator was the one to find the number for him.

"I need to talk with Dr. Coolidge at County Animal Services," Dr. Brackett explained and then sat back in his chair with the phone still pressed to his ear. He knew that the operator would make call the County Animal Services office, talk to the receptionist and only when she had Dr. Coolidge on the phone would she connect the call back to him. But still sitting there holding the phone was a good way to calm down and think through the situation at hand.

Before the line was connected Dr. Early knocked and then entered the room. "What's this about closing down Treatment Room 2 and what happened to base station 2?"

Kell was about to answer when his call was connected so he motioned for Joe to have a seat and let him listen in on his side of the conversation to answer his question.

"Dr. Coolidge, we have a situation here that is much more in your area of expertise than in mine. We have currently corralled in one of our treatment rooms one very small and very frightened hamster. It's the pet of the grandson of one of our patients. We've already tore one of the base stations apart to get a hold of the thing once only to have it get away again. Is there a chance one of your men could come out and catch the thing for us?"

Kell then had to hold the phone away from his ear and even Joe could hear the ear splitting laughter coming over the head seat.

"No, huh," Kell replied after he was able to put the phone back to his ear, he looked even glummer than he had before. "Okay, I understand; can you advise us on how to capture the thing?"

Joe Early sat and listened for a while as Kell said little more than an occasional "uh huh," before ending the conversation with, "That doesn't sound too difficult. Thank you for your help."

The phone was set back in its cradle and Kell Brackett stood up ready for action. "Joe could you please go to the administrative offices and see if you can get enough shredded paper to place a loose layer about three inches deep in the bottom of a bucket."

Kell then stepped out of his office and stopped the first hospital employee he found. "Go to the cafeteria, I need a single slice of cucumber or possibly a slice of carrot. When you get it bring it back to Treatment Room 2." Kell's next stop was the janitor's closet where he was able to find the bucket that he needed before taking it to the cast room.

When Kell Brackett returned to Treatment Room 2, Dr. Early and the nursing student were standing there waiting for him, neither quite sure what he was up to but they both had confidence that he knew what he was doing. The shredded paper was placed in the bottom of the bucket and then a slice of cucumber and a slice of carrot were placed on top of that. The disposable bowl that the cucumber and carrot were in was sent to be half filled with water. Kell then once again carefully let himself into the treatment room and the bucket was set on the floor near the cart that the orderly standing guard assured him that the rodent was still underneath. With the bucket on the floor in close proximity to the cart in question Dr. Brackett then pulled a roll of wire mesh out of his pocket. The mesh was sometimes used during casting of broken bones but Dr. Brackett's intension was to turn it into some kind of a gang plank for the hamster to climb into the bucket. When he had it bent so that it was the proper length to attach to the lip of the bucket and go to the floor he feared the holes in the mesh were too big for the hamster to walk on so he grabbed a roll of gauze and wrapped the mesh heavily and then put it in place.

"All right, let's give it an hour then I want you to come back in and check on the thing," Dr. Brackett instructed the orderly who had been so good at keeping an eye on the critter in question. "If we haven't caught him by then we'll have to consider doing something else. For now we're short a treatment room so we're going to have to do the best we can."

This was not a good day to be down a base station or a treatment room but the staff did their best to get the job done and just keep moving. A large sign that read closed for cleaning was placed on the door to treatment room 2 and only a few people noticed the blanket stuffed under the door. There was hope that if things were quiet enough the little rodent named Teddy Mouse would feel comfortable enough to go have a snack. Once he reached the top of the bucket it would fall in and land softly on the shredded paper and then be unable to get back out. Still it should feel safe there with food, water and shredded paper to burrow in, until they could contact its owner to come get it.

A corner of the hall way was set up as a substitute for the closed treatment room and a few patients were treated there as time slipped by. Kell Brackett was moving from one treatment room to the next when Martin the orderly touched the hectic doctor's arm with a smile on his face.

"We got him," Martin reported, "the little guy has eaten half of his cucumber, gotten a drink and is now burrowed in the shredded paper taking a little nap. I removed the ramp just to make sure he stays where we want him."

"That's great," Kell sighed in relief. "Set the bucket aside and get with Dix to find out where to contact the owner. Have them get here as soon as they can to pick the thing up. Once you've contacted the family I think we should be able to open up treatment room 2 again."

It was a full twenty minutes later when Squad 51 came rushing through with a drowning victim who had yet to start breathing on their own. Both paramedics were moving in tandem with the gurney, both of them had come in with the patient leaving Marco to drive the squad in behind them.

Both Dr. Brackett and Dr. Early stepped up to the patient as Johnny worked to force air into their ten year old patient's lungs.

"Treatment Room 2 is open," Dixie directed and everyone moved quickly in that direction as Dr. Early was quick to set up to place and airway in the patient.

The patient was moved over to the treatment table and the gurney pushed aside as the patient started to respond and needed to be quickly rolled to his side to keep him from aspirating as he vomited the water that was still in his stomach.

When the patient started to breathe on his own everyone working on his care, especially two soaking wet paramedics let out a deep sigh of relief as the ambulance attendants stepped back to move their gurney out of the way. It was the back wheel of the gurney that clipped the bucket knocking it over as they stood with the treatment room door standing wide open to accommodate the gurney's removal.

Little Teddy ran around in a circle twice trying to find the cart he had once felt safe under. One nurse climbed on the doctor's stool in the treatment room while a student nurse jumped into Roy's arms and the older sister of the patient jumped into Johnny's arms all of them screeching.

The screaming was enough to encourage Teddy to run between the wheels of the gurney into the hall way of the Emergency Department where a file clerk delivering some records screeched before jumping into Marco's arms.

Of course all three girls were extremely attractive, Johnny had no problem with the young lady being in his arms, he just stammered a little as he tried to make small talk. Marco quickly exchanged names with the girl in his arms.

With the patient now breathing on his own and Dr. Early taking charge of his care, Dr. Brackett stood with complete frustration and listened to the chaos of screams and dropped treatment trays in the hall way. Listening to Johnny trying to flirt with the girl in his arms, Dr. Bracket squared his shoulders.

"This is just like something you might think of in order to get yourself into this situation," Dr. Brackett accused. He then looked at Roy, "but you're a married man."


	4. Chapter 4

**The Call of the Master's Voice**

Martin the Orderly heard the screams from Treatment Room 2 and quickly turned his attention in that direction.

When Teddy Mouse the hamster came running from under the gurney that was half in and half out of the treatment room he stepped into action. Calling to his friend who worked as a janitor the two men each grabbed a dust mop and carefully herded the small frightened hamster until they were able to direct it into the janitor's closet. From there they pushed it into the channel drain, a below the floor sink designed to make dumping mop buckets easier. While standing guard to make sure the hamster couldn't get out of the drain, Martin sent the Janitor back to Treatment Room 2 to get the bucket and the shredded paper that was in it. While he waiting he stuffed a cleaning rag into the drain to make sure the small animal didn't fall in there. Martin was just placing a couple of hands full of shredded paper in one corner of the drain bowl when Dixie stepped up to the door with a young boy who held a small cage in his hand.

"Teddy!" rang out echoing through the closet as the young boy got down on his knees to embrace his missing pet. The cage in his hand was placed in the bottom of the drain with the cage door open and a favorite hamster treat inside. The hamster, eager for someplace it knew was safe, ran right up the ramp made by the cage door and into the cage, it then climbed into the coconut shell shelter and stayed there while it's master shut and secured the cage door before sitting cross legged on the floor and pulling the cage into his lap while he talked to the pet he didn't expect to see again.

"We should have called you in the beginning," Dr. Brackett commented as he looked on over the shoulder of the orderly that had proven so helpful through this situation.

"Thank you for not just killing it," the boy responded, his voice filled with emotion.

"Now we'd never do a thing like that to a beloved pet," Dr. Brackett responded to the young boy. Of course extermination was the next course of action but seeing the face on the boy at his feet, Kell was grateful it hadn't come to that.

Detecting that the boy and his pet needed a quiet place to regroup and continue their reunion, Dr. Brackett led the boy and his parents to his office. With the door closed the noises of the hospital were blocked out. Brandon Olsen sat in the chair in the middle of the room and once again sat the cage on his lap and started talking to his pet. He was just about to open the door so he could reach in and pet the small friend but Dr. Brackett stopped him.

"Please don't do that here, I don't want that little friend of yours to get loose again."

"I guess maybe I should find someone I can give her too where she'll be safe." Brandon spoke forlornly.

"Oh, honey," the mother turned to her husband and buried her face in his shoulder. "This is so unfair to our son. Mother just will not leave his door shut and her cat, is just that, a cat, a cat who thinks Teddy is nothing more than a rodent."

"We might could put a lock on Brandon's door but with the broken ankle she's got now she won't be able to climb the stairs to her apartment. We're going to have to rearrange some rooms at least until she gets that cast off her leg and can get around on her own a little better.

"The best place for your mother when she comes home from the hospital is going to be in the den and that cat of hers has already pulled the vent grate off twice trying to get in to Brandon's room." The husband was watching his son with his beloved pet. It had come from a neighbor who's pet had babies, their son had started working with it when it was just a few days old to get it accustomed to his touch and voice.

"Why can't your mother keep her cat in the apartment? why does she have to have it in the house with us, not only does it always try to get at Brandon's hamster it makes Brandon's skin break out when he touches it."

"I've tried to get Mother to leave the cat in the apartment but she just won't. You know how she is."

"At the risk of speaking up where I shouldn't," Dr Brackett interrupted, "since your mother is apparently going to have to move into the house what about letting young Brandon here move into her apartment, at least I'm assuming it is attached to your house."

The boy's father looked surprised at the suggestion and turned to his wife. "Why didn't we think of that idea?"

"That could solve most of our problems," The mother agreed and then got a saddened expression. "Of course our daughter will have a few things to say about that situation. She'll want the apartment for herself."

"After she snuck her boyfriend into her room through the window last month," the father spoke with authority, "She hasn't earned the trust to have her own apartment with a separate entrance."

The father then looked at his son with sternness. "Alright, Brandon, we'll let Nana know what we're going to do and then we'll start moving you in as soon as we get home. Under the following conditions: you will eat all of your meals with the family, and there will be at least a weekly inspection to make sure your room is clean and all of your clothes will need to be brought to the house twice a week for washing. And if you do anything you shouldn't be doing you'll be moved back into the house so fast your head will spin. Understood?"

Dr. Brackett didn't even stay around to hear the boy's answer. This was family business and he had already stepped in more than he probably should. But he did feel relieved that the small creature that had terrorized his Emergency Department was now going home, a safe and secure home.

Author's note: information used in this story came from the Hamster Club web site. It was very informative and after reading it I almost wanted a hamster. However I have two cats, one of which is a pretty good mouser, one medium sized very hyper dog, and two parakeets. That's enough for our house.


End file.
